The word Amazon comes from the Greek words meaning ‘absence of a breast’. In Greek mythology there is reference to a tribe of female warriors who cut off one of their breasts to make it easier for them to wield a bow and swing an axe. Or it might just have been a rite of passage for these fierce women to declare they were not like other women that the Greek heroes were familiar with: they would not be restricted to the hearth and home.

The Amazons were devotees of Artemis, the goddess of the chase, known to Romans as Diana, who was always surrounded by female companions and did not appreciate the company of men, except when a child was desired. Male children were given away in adoption and the female child was raised as the next generation of Amazons. There is great argument about whether these women were lesbians, women who love other women romantically and sexually.